FedEx Launches Three-Point Green Plan

FedEx Launches Three-Point Green Plan

FedEx Corp. has developed a new program aimed at unifying the company's efforts to meet its goals of minimizing its impact on the environment.

The company hopes EarthSmart, created with help from Esty Environmental Partners, will inspire innovations that will improve the environmental performance of its operations and industry, FedEx said in its Global Corporate Citizenship report released Tuesday.

EarthSmart is divided into three broad areas: business solutions, workplace culture and community outreach. EarthSmart solutions will receive an official designation indicating it has met quantifiable standards set by the company for innovation and environmental responsibility, such as the first all-electric delivery vehicles deployed in the United Kingdom that were the first to receive the EarthSmart logo.

The second component, workplace culture, sets the stage to engage FedEx's large employee base to contribute to its green efforts. The outreach plank is aimed at aligning its environmentally-focused philanthropic and volunteer efforts with its business goals.

The company said EarthSmart is needed to help it reach its goals. For example, the company wants to improve vehicle fuel efficiency by 20 percent by 2020. As of fiscal year 2009, it has improved efficiency by 14.1 percent, relative to a 2005 baseline.{related_content} FedEx also plans to trim aircraft emissions intensity by 20 percent by 2020. To date, the company's aircraft emissions intensity has dropped by 8.3 percent, partly due to the replacement of 727s with 757s, which reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 47 percent.

It is also swapping MD-11F fleet models with wide-body 777F aircraft, which carries more cargo and cuts fuel use by 18 percent.